Generate Scheduled Reports

Note:  Scheduled Reports is only available on Reviewer Enterprise Edition for users with the Reporting License and with the permission for Managing scheduled reports. Signatures and signature authorizations can be set to confirm changes with an Auditor license. To activate use the License Manager.

This page allows you to create multiple reports for each group or custom group. You can configure which channels to include in a report and set lower / upper limits for each channel.

The report provides details for each channel selected. Each time the channel data exceeds the lower / upper threshold, an entry is created in the table of values. A data excursion counts as when the trend goes below the lower limit or above the upper limit for an amount of time longer than the delay time specified. For example, if the delay is set at 1 minute and the trend goes below the lower limit several times but only one of those times lasted more than a minute, only that single occurrence will be considered a data excursion and only that occurrence will be mentioned in the report. The report provides the total number of excursion and its total duration (time outside of the specified range) along with the details of each excursion.

The reports can be generated automatically based on a time schedule and can be paused / restarted anytime. You can also run a custom report manually at any time. In this case, the end time of the report can be set to something other than the current time.

  1. Go to Group and Batches.
  2. On a Group card, click on (Scheduled Reports).
    The icon appears,
    • blue when there are no reports set up
    • green when there are one or more reports
    • red when there are any missed scheduled reports, for example, if the server was down. In this case, you need to acknowledge the missed reports.
  3. Click New report to create a new report.
    Enter the details as described below:
    Report options are displayed on the central panel.

    • Report name: Enter a name for the report. The name must be unique to that group.

      Note:  You cannot save or run a report without a report name.

    • Custom user folder: Click the Browse button to specify a destination folder for saving the reports.
      On the Users Folders dialog box, select a folder from the available list and click Select.
      To create a destination folder (user folder), see Users Folders section on the Server Configuration page.
    • Email Recipients: Click to send reports (pdf) to other users via email.
      On the Email Recipients dialog box, click to select a user from the available list. You can select as many users as you want.
      If necessary, enable the Email report to recipients option (top-right corner) to always email scheduled reports to the selected users. See Scheduled Report template options on the Access Management to set the email template.

      Note:  Only users with a valid email address and the permission to receive reports by email will appear in the Available users list. You can enable the Can receive reports by email option on the User Management page.

    • Sample Interval: Select a sample interval to see the chart data.
      The length and value of excursions will vary according to the sample interval specified. The amount of data points that can be retrieved at raw data level is 200000 data points per channel to avoid any missing excursions. This means that reports can take a while to generate when there is a lot of data requested at a high sample rate (including 'raw data').
    • Format: Available options are:
      • PDF: Generates reports in the pdf format.
      • CSV: Generates reports in the same format as a report generated when exporting to CSV from a chart (the same options are available). This report does not show limits.
        • Include headers: Check this to include headers.
        • Include values: Check this to include values.
        • Show date as text: Check this to show date as text.
    • Separate channels in report: Check this to generate a separate page for each channel when multiple channels are selected. This allows you to view data separately, and thus distinguish between the lower and upper limits for each channel (blue for lower limits and red for upper limits). If this option is not checked, when more than one channel is configured to display lower and upper limits, they would not be distinguishable if the channels have overlapping zones. This option is only available for the PDF format.
    • Include limits in report: Check this to generate reports with additional statistical analysis. If not checked, there will be no excursion data. This option is only available for the PDF format.
    • Include messages: Check this to include messages on the report.
      • Filter message types: Click this to filter the message types on the report. Only available if the Include messages (above) option is enabled.
    • Duration: Specify the duration for which the reports must be generated. For example, if the duration is 2 hours, then the report will be generated for the past 2 hours or if the duration is 2 weeks, then the report will be generated for the past 2 weeks.
    • Automatic: Check this to generate reports at specific time intervals. You can pause and re-start this option anytime. When you do the initial set up for the reports, by default, a report will be generated immediately, and thereafter at the requested intervals.
    • Logs: Click this to view the details of all generated reports.
    • Frequency: Specify a time period to generate reports repeatedly at specified intervals. This will set up a queue sequentially.
    • First start (Optional): Specify a date and time to trigger the first report generation.
    • Next scheduled: Displays the next three scheduled times for generating the report.
    • Custom start / end: Specify a start and end time for generating a report manually.
    • Use current period: Upon clicking this button, the current time is set as the end time and the start time is set to the current time minus the duration of the report as configured in the Duration option above.
    • Save: Click this to save the report details.
    • Run custom report: Click this to generate a report using the custom start and end time specified.
  4. Click Delete report to delete a report.
  5. Click Copy report to copy a report.
    This is useful when generating multiple reports that utilizes the same channels.

    Note:  When you copy a report, it adds the name with a suffix, "(copy)". When generating multiple copies of the same report, it is necessary to rename each copy before making another copy.

  6. Click Close.
A list of available channels is displayed on the right-hand panel.
  1. Click on icon (on the left of each channel) to include or exclude a channel in the report. By default, all channels are included in a report.

  2. Specify the lower limit, upper limit, and the delay time for each channel. You can choose to include or exclude each by clicking icon on their left. The upper limits are indicated as a red dashed line and lower limits as a blue dashed line on the report. The Lower limit, Upper limit and Delay time options are only available if the Include limits in report option (above under Report Details) is enabled.

    Note:  You cannot save or run a report without specifying the lower and upper limits (if they are enabled). The upper values must be higher than the lower values.

Note:  The lower and upper excursion limits configured for a channel here are independent of any alarm limits set for the channel in the instrument. Changing the alarm limits in the instrument will not change these values.

Note:  It is possible for a custom group to be created from multiple source groups, and for the data from one of those source groups to be deleted through the database management. In this scenario, the channels in question that are no longer available will still show in the scheduled report configuration, but they will be marked as 'Channel not found'. Those channels will appear normal again when the missing data is re-imported to Reviewer.

When a report is generated manually (custom report), it is available to you immediately either in a new window or at the bottom of the browser. If automatic, the reports are saved to the scheduledreports folder within the archive folder. The Event Log displays the details of every action made to the scheduled reports configuration. The log type is Reporting.